10 Days of 100 Games, Review

I have a new perspective on PICO-8 games. When I think of PICO-8 games, I typically only think of the best designed, most polished games; the featured games. This series has made me realize that there are far more works in progress and beginners’ games than masterpieces. After trying 100 PICO-8 games, I think I can say that the average PICO-8 game is: a Celeste mod, work in progress, or a decent game (that’s inclusive, Celeste mods can be decent games). And that’s fine. I’m glad that, beyond the stage of wizards, there’s a multitude of people making what they can and being accepting enough of their creations to publish.

Some other notes: 2 minutes per game was the perfect amount. Sometimes I’d be waiting for the timer, other times I’d forget it was running and continue playing long afterward. I’m not sure how I managed to not play any Celeste mods, maybe I’ll have to do a separate series. Also, PICO-8 is the perfect platform for trying lots of games. They’re all free, instant to download, and there’s plenty of variety. PICO-8’s Splore lucky draw feature made it super easy to find new games.

Here’s all the games I played, in the order I played them:

  1. Alpine Alpaca
  2. Drumset
  3. Clouds Aloft
  4. Stick v1.01
  5. On the Wind
  6. Cernan Slalom
  7. Dominopolis
  8. Can Crusher
  9. frostpunk_pico
  10. Amika’s Quest
  11. PICOCHAK
  12. S W O R D F I S H
  13. Repo Runner
  14. Lefty
  15. UFO Swap Odyssey
  16. Slider
  17. Earth Was a Bad Choice
  18. Picopolis
  19. Wander Kid
  20. Space Limit
  21. Endless Train
  22. Two Hiking Cats Have An In Depth Discussion About Life The Universe And Everything
  23. Frog Home
  24. SANDBOX-8
  25. Squiddy (PICO-1k Jam)
  26. Prove CSTORE 4096-Bytes
  27. Solais (LD46 Compo)
  28. PicoKart
  29. Snackzzle
  30. Twaffic (tweettweetjam, 554 chars)
  31. Succer
  32. Snowman Builder
  33. Fireflies
  34. Cellular automata tweetcart
  35. MetroCUBEvania
  36. Rainmaker
  37. Euclid Was A Square
  38. Web Pilot – Tempest-inspired tube shooter
  39. TI-83 Fall
  40. snowstorm
  41. Mr.Box and Blocks
  42. U-turn
  43. Calculator Vs Blackboard
  44. LIINES
  45. GET OUT of this Dungeon
  46. chode
  47. Component Snow
  48. podimikesi
  49. NOOB No-Obj
  50. OpenSimplex noise generator demo
  51. A Doukutsu Demake
  52. Star Beast
  53. Music Cart: Hinata vs. Neji (Naruto OST)
  54. Dash To The Core
  55. gravdog
  56. underball
  57. Polyspiral
  58. Super Poulet Poulet
  59. Out Run / Hang-On style road rendering with tline()
  60. Shodo
  61. Pizza generator
  62. Ready, Set, Goo!
  63. Diamond Ghost
  64. Jacquard Loom
  65. The Merciless Deep
  66. Antiban
  67. PicoDiver
  68. Fractal trees
  69. The Floor Is Shaking, Also There Is Lava
  70. flying_simulator
  71. Ooze Runner
  72. Metablob
  73. Orbiter Suite
  74. Mocha
  75. The Chamber Scrolls [LD37]
  76. Pilot8
  77. Burger Queem
  78. Cube Demo
  79. not sid meier’s Danmaku
  80. 8VENTURE
  81. Classic Screensaver
  82. Slime Bubble Bro
  83. Pong paddle 1.3 (updated)
  84. test
  85. Anchors & Miners
  86. Snow Tower
  87. Generator+
  88. Frog King
  89. Z to Continue
  90. SDF ray-marcher
  91. Skydive
  92. Untitled
  93. Sinematch 1.1
  94. Test Controls!
  95. A study of horizontally scrolling shooter
  96. platformer_basic
  97. Change animation sequence on button input
  98. Super Drift Bikes
  99. unnamed rhythm game
  100. zerpong

See you tomorrow for a review of the NES controller + retroUSB!

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